Joseph V. Williams II on "persona"
Our literature-inspired summer series, narratives, opens on Saturday, June 25th with a concert event entitled persona [beginning]. The centerpiece of the evening will be the world premiere of a 5-movement work by ACG’s Composer in Residence, Joseph V. Williams II. We’ve asked Joe to share some insights about his ambitious new composition.
As I write, the sounds of Persona are swirling through my mind’s ear. Persona is a five movement song cycle on texts of Fernando Pessoa written for musicians that transcend their instrument: Estelí Gomez (soprano), DaXun Zhang (bass), Isaac Bustos (guitar), Alejandro Montiel (guitar), and the trio of Adam Bedell, Cullen Faulk, and Matthew Teodori, who make up the line upon line percussion ensemble.
This extraordinary group will create a realization of the multifaceted world that Fernando Pessoa explored. Pessoa, often referred to as the Walt Whitman of Portugal, occupied many worlds - so many that he created alternate personas which he spoke through - or arguably, wrote for. He gave each of these alternate personas a name and referred to them as heteronyms (as opposed to pseudonyms) because he believed and demonstrated that their view and voice was separate from his own.
In setting these texts to music, the concept of what sets each of us apart, our inner and outer selves, is manifest as fundamental musical contrasts. Whether in Pessoa’s voice, or in the voice of his most celebrated heteronyms, each poem occupies a musical and intellectual space of its own.
The instrumentation is most primal: voice and percussion- our most essential musical expression and thus, our most essential expression of self. All accompanied by the most intimate of instruments, the guitar, which shares common ground between the two.
This piece is an exploration of who we are, who we aren’t and who we can be. The themes run from that age old wisdom of not trying to be anyone who you are not, of nostalgia and cynicism, and, ultimately, desperation and hope. The texts of the five poems are below. Enjoy and I hope you will join us for a concert event unlike any other you have experienced.
Five Poems by Fernando Pessoa
As Alberto Caeiro:
To think about God is to disobey God,
Since God wanted us not to know him,
Which is why he didn’t reveal himself to us…
Let’s be simple and calm,
Like the trees and streams,
And God will love us, making us
Us even as the trees are trees
And the streams are streams,
And will give us greenness in the spring, which is its season,
And a river to go to when we end…
And he’ll give us nothing more, since to give us more would make us less us.
As Fernando Pessoa:
Initiation
‘You aren’t asleep under the cypress trees,
For in this world there is no sleep.
Your body is the shadow of the clothes
That conceal your deeper self.
When night, which is death, arrives,
The shadow ends without having been.
And you go, unaware, into that night
As the mere outline of yourself.
But at the Inn of Wonderment,
The Angels take away your cape;
You continue with no cape on your shoulders
And little else to cover you.
Then the Highway Archangels
Strip you and leave you naked,
Without any clothes, with nothing:
You have just your body, which is you.
Finally, deep within the cave,
The Gods strip you even more.
Your body, or outer soul, ceases,
But you see that they are your equals.
The shadow of your clothes remains
Among us in the realm of Destiny.
You are not dead amid cypress trees.
Neophyte, there is no death.
As Ricardo Reis:
Remember, with quick steps, on the white beach
Darkened by the foam, the ancient rhythm
That bare feet know,
That rhythm repeated
By nymphs when they tap the sound of the dance
In the shade of the trees; you, children
Not yet concerned
With concerns, revive
That noisy circle while Apollo bends,
Like a high branch, the blue curve he gilds,
And the tide, high or low,
Flows without ceasing.
As Fernando Pessoa:
Nothing
Ah, the soft, soft playing,
Like someone about to cry,
Of a song that’s woven
Out of artifice and moonlight…
Nothing to make us remember
Life.
A prelude of courtesies
Or a smile that faded…
A cold garden in the distance…
And in the soul that finds it,
Just the absurd echo of its empty
Flight.
As Álvaro de Campos:
Magnificat
When will this inner night – the universe – end
And I – my soul – have my day?
When will I wake up from being awake?
I don’t know. The sun shines on high
And cannot be looked at.
The stars coldly blink
And cannot be counted.
The heart beats aloofly
And cannot be heard.
When will this drama without theater
– Or this theater without drama – end
So that I can go home?
Where? How? When?
O cat staring at me with eyes of life, Who lurks in your depths?
It’s Him! It’s him!
Like Joshua he’ll order the sun to stop, and I’ll wake up,
And it will be day.
Smile, my soul, in your slumber!
Smile, my soul: it will be day!
--
Dr. Joseph V. Williams II
Classical Guitarist & Composer
Guitar Instructor, University of Mary Hardin Baylor
Composer in Residence, Austin Classical Guitar
Director, Austin Classical Guitar Youth Orchestra
Website: joeplaysguitar.com
Texas Guitar Quartet www.TxGQ.net
Giving Tuesday Impact Stories
As the year comes to an end, it's only natural that we look back in reflection on our programs and highlight those we have been able to reach through them. Here are just a few impact stories from teachers, former students and instructors that we work and have worked with to provide free lessons to students.
"Having the wonderful opportunity to take lessons with some of the ACG faculty helped me prepare for college level music studies and it's still paying off!" - Javier Saucedo, Former Student at Akins HS, Currently a Student at UT
"The free private lessons provided by Austin Classical Guitar have had a tremendous impact on the guitar students at Travis High School. The program has become a 'brass ring' of sorts. Students chosen for the program must complete an application and obtain a recommendation from an academic teacher. They then must maintain passing grades in all of their classes to stay in the program. We currently have a waiting list almost 10 students deep. These lessons have encouraged improved their musical skills, increased academic achievement, improved self image, improved work ethic, and the program has also led to a vast improvement in the Travis guitar ensembles and a healthy competition between ensemble members. This year, the lesson program has led to students from Travis 'moving up' and taking lessons through Austin Community College with Dr. Thomas Echols. Graduates of the Travis program are currently attending Austin Community College, the University of Mary Hardin Baylor, Texas State, and Del Mar College....all studying Classical Guitar. I cannot thank Austin Classical Guitar enough for their support and the encouragement they provide!" - Susan Rozanc, Music Educator, Travis HS
"Teaching free private lessons to underprivileged high school students has been incredibly spiritually rewarding. Providing kids with opportunities to grow as musicians, scholars and individuals is the greatest joy of my work.” - Brent Ferguson, ACG Teacher
"In my time with Austin classical guitar at Akins high school, I received the honor of experiencing the outreach program's Private lessons. Being In an ensemble is amazing, we work as a team and are a family, however receiving private lessons I was able to discover my strengths and weaknesses. The lessons being one on one, provided the opportunity to work at a steady pace and pin point what I struggled with, this allowed me to build upon my weaknesses and become a more confident classical guitarist." -Francisco De la Rosa, Former Student at Akins HS
"Over the course of my past year teaching at Mendez Middle School I've come to understand the true breadth of the impact of ACG's free lessons initiative. Beyond instruction on how to play the guitar, this program provides the opportunity to engage students on a level that only arts immersion can offer; they are are exposed to elements of collaboration and modes of critical thinking that can influence their lives well beyond the context of school, and all through the intimate, enriching medium of music. It's a shame that such programs aren't a standard part of public education–Austin Classical Guitar is providing a vital service to which, otherwise, students in these communities would never have access." -Colin Fullerton, Teacher at Mendez MS
"As an instructor, I loved the connections that I made with the students in individual lessons supported by Austin Classical Guitar. It was very rewarding to see their progress increase as their confidence grew. I was excited to watch the students identify and express themselves through guitar." -Janet Grohovac, Instructor at Annunciation Maternity Home & Silicon Labs
"I want to take the time and give thanks to Austin Classical Guitar, for providing free lessons to Travis High School Students and myself. Being able to have the experience of learning a new instrument sometimes does not come cheap, however because of the program offered at my school, I was able to learn classical guitar. Learning classical guitar has impacted my life in so many ways. I have learned to play with an ensemble, be part of a community that keeps growing everyday, meet new people who are also passionate in what they do, and it has even opened many doors for me. It also helped me keep my grades up, and has also improved my musical skills. I am now attending Del Mar College, and till this day I still keep studying classical guitar. I am very grateful for the opportunity that Austin Classical Guitar gave me, and also for the great support that they still keep giving me today. I also want to thank all the supporters that give to this program, because if it wasn't for them, I would probably not be the person that I am today!" -Susy Diaz-Lopez, Former Student at Travis HS
In honor of GivingTuesday, any contributions made to ACG today will go directly to funding our free lessons for kids in Title 1 school programs. Lessons for one year cost $750 per child - the results are transformative.
Help us continue to change lives through music!
You can give online here: https://austinclassicalguitar.org
Play! Fables & Lies
Prepare to be transported through stories and art: Our Composer in Residence, Joseph Williams II, the creative genius behind last year’s original silent film score for Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lodger, hosts an evening inspired by the other-worldly at The Townsend, Austin’s coolest new bar and listening room.
Williams along with guitarist Joseph Palmer and bassist Ricky Pringle will present his evocative Zia: Myth and Folklore from New Mexico and Homage to Tom Waits. Our featured artist is Austin’s own Yuliya Lanina whose surreal paintings portray the mysterious, the beautiful, and the sensual. There will be food compliments of Easy Tiger included in the ticket price, and delicious cocktails available from The Townsend’s mixology masters.
About the Music: Joseph Williams II composed Zia: Myth and Folklore from New Mexico as a collection of etudes, or short musical compositions, emphasizing timbre and extended guitar techniques. A “Zia” is a symbol for the sun: a red circle with groups of rays pointing in four directions. The symbol comes from the Zia tribe from New Mexico and was adopted as the state flag in 1925. As a native of New Mexico, Williams drew inspiration from the Spanish and Native American folklore and mythology integral to the cultural landscape of the state. In writing etudes focusing on extended techniques and timbre, he found a sympathetic relationship between this exotic sound palette and the frequently fantastical elements in New Mexican folklore and myth. In realizing this relationship, he associated each etude with a specific myth or folkloric story. Although the pieces can exist without this association, his hopes are that the programmatic reference will empower a general audience to engage in a contemporary musical language and also to keep these narratives alive in modern consciousness.
Tom Waits (b. 1949) is an American songwriter, composer, actor and performance artist. He is a self-described maker of “adventure songs and Halloween music” whose lyrics explore a fantastical underworld of seedy, sentimental, grotesque and sometimes maudlin subject matter. Williams’ Homage to Tom Waits (2012) is dedicated to the later period of his music characterized by the use of uncommon instruments and an evolving sound palette that explores forms that are rarely present in popular music (vaudeville, rumba, polka, tango, spoken word).
To read more about Joseph Williams visit his website http://joeplaysguitar.com.
About the Art: Yuliya Lanina is a Russian-born American multimedia artist who lives and works in Austin, TX. Employing surreal imagery to simultaneously elicit feelings of uneasiness and empathy, she paints and collages bizarre characters that come to life through mechanization, animation, and music. Lanina draws from many sources to create these characters, though she often taps into Greek mythology with its half-human and half-animal demigods, and also relies on Russian fairy tales, which are filled with fantastic beings deeply rooted in paganism, mysticism, and symbolism. Her creatures and their stories move freely between logical and illogical, realistic and illusory, predictable and surprising, representing life that can only be lived, but never understood.
To see more of her work visit her website http://www.yuliyalanina.com.
Play! is about connecting contemporary art and music in captivating downtown Austin spaces. Each event highlights the work of one visual artist paired with an intimate live concert. We look for exciting downtown environments, start off with cocktails, delicious bites from Easy Tiger, and let the art and music set the mood.
This event is sponsored by Laraine & Leon Lasdon.
Tickets can be purchased here.
An Interview with Ekachai
Ekachai Jearakul played in Carnegie Hall on Friday and is on his way to play for us here in Austin on Saturday! In the midst of this international superstar's globe trotting for his current Guitar Foundation of America tour, we were able to squeeze in some time to ask him a few questions about where he draws inspiration from and his musical career thus far.
What inspired you to begin studying Classical Guitar at such a young age?
I was first inspired by the music of the King of Thailand. I originally started my musical training on the trumpet but I heard a friend play an arrangement of “Hungry Man Blues” on classical guitar, by the King, and I knew I wanted to play guitar.
Which musicians have inspired you the most in your musical career?
John Williams was a true guitar hero of mine and I listened to his albums quite a lot when I first began to study the guitar. I also wanted to mimic his career by playing in the same concert halls he played in.
What is your favorite piece of music to play? Why?
I love to play the music of Agustín Barrios. His compositions are so beautiful and he really understood the instrument like Chopin did on the piano.
Of all the countries you've gotten to travel to, where was your favorite place to visit/play? Why?
Madrid, Spain. The architecture is incredible, there’s a real big city bustle, and I was so captivated by the combination of cultures.
How was your experience playing for the Royal Family of Thailand?
It was a tremendous honor to play in front of the Royal Family; I was not nervous but humbled to have the opportunity. It still is one of my biggest dreams to play in front of the King.
What are your plans after you complete the GFA tour?
More touring! I’m looking to do more orchestra collaborations, finish my Mel Bay publication on the music of the King of Thailand, and record another CD on the GHA label.
For more details about his concert on Saturday click here, or call us at (512) 300-2247.
Encouraging Creativity through Music & Storytelling
Our very own Audience Engagement Artist in Residence, Joseph Palmer, has been touring the city of Austin visiting Elementary Schools, Middle Schools, and High Schools as well as places like the Thinkery Children's Museum, the Young Women's Leadership Academy, and Gardner Betts Juvenile Justice Center. Joseph has developed a program to engage children and young adults in the arts by integrating music and the story telling process. His emphasis on learning the listening process to influence the emotions, aids students in imagining a story based on the sounds they are hearing.
After explaining how a composer took inspiration from a folk tale and was able to creatively transform it into a piece of music (Pedro y Diablo - Joe Williams), the kids then did this process in reverse; taking three short pieces of music and constructing their own three part story in response to what they heard in the music (Caprice Variations 1, 16, & 35 - Rochberg).
At one of the schools Joseph most recently visited, he describes this transformation process-
Here's a synopsis of the story created by the students at Perez Elementary in response to the Rochberg-
Caprice No. 1: A man named Pablo is on a quest to look for his lost love but is challenged to a duel by the infamous villain Jacques. Despite his odds, Pablo is able to defeat Jacques.
Caprice No. 16: Pablo continues on his lonely journey through the desert to look for his love but soon catches word that Jacques' spirit has somehow returned and is chasing off everyone in Pablo's hometown to seek revenge.
Caprice No. 35: A very intense chase ensues. Pablo finally reunites with his lover and together they try to escape from the wrath of Jacques. At the peak of tension, they find shelter inside a transparent forcefield which prevents the evil spirit from reaching them. The spirit becomes increasingly enraged until suddenly reaching the point of complete self-destruction.
If you've heard the 35th Rochberg Caprice, this ending totally makes sense.
This is just one example of a story that a group of children have come up with after listening to these pieces being played for them. Another one of Joseph's recent visits was to Gardner Betts Juvenile Justice Center which he described as a more "up-close, interactive performance."
One moment that particularly stood out to me was when I played a piece without revealing the title, composer, or any background info and simply asked them to "listen closely and imagine what you think the composer is trying to express through this music just from the sounds you hear." Afterwards, I heard a number of thoughtful comments from them. Though there was one kid who said "It sounds like you've lost someone that you love." I then revealed that the piece was entitled "Farewell" by Sergio Assad and that the composer wrote the piece as a farewell to his wife who he had just lost to terminal illness. We went on to discuss how amazing it is that music can express such emotions so profoundly and with such precision that another human being can truly feel and understand what is being communicated without any words being exchanged or ever having even met the person - just by listening and feeling into sounds they put together.
After the students had listened to Joseph's performances and built the stories to fit them, they were asked a few questions about how the demonstration affected their overall experiences as listeners and audience members. One student put it simply, "For a while I forgot I was in this place and just imagined a story about a boy walking by himself & realizing the hardships in life." Comments like these go to show the incredible potential that music has to transport an individual into another reality.
The goal of this program is to give students the opportunity to become more in touch with their creative sides and develop their perceptive listening skills in order to encourage them to use their imagination through a multi-sensory experience. We encourage students to develop their own interpretations and create something new in hopes that they will be inspired to continue to do so.
In the words of Albert Einstein, "Creativity is contagious," and we are on a mission to spread it.
Joseph at Perez Elementary, playing for a group of children.
Joseph's visit to the Young Women's Leadership Academy
Girls in a class at the Young Women's Leadership Academy eager to add their perspective of a piece Joseph played for them into the story they built to match the music.
ACG Celebrates 25 Years
As we open our 25th season this upcoming Saturday with world renowned classical guitarists Kazuhito Yamashita, we can't help but look back on how far we have come. Our Executive Director, Matt Hinsley, has written a few words to give us a little insight on his history with the organization:
"Austin Classical Guitar was founded in 1990. I joined the organization in 1996, after arriving in Austin to start my master’s degree. At that time ACG was looking for new leadership. I had run a student guitar club during my undergraduate studies, so I got the job!
We launched our first International Series soon after, and in 1998 added the free Community Concert Series. In 1999 we formed our Community Guitar Ensembles, and in 2001 established our Educational Outreach program. 2003 marked the first time we presented the legendary Pepe Romero in concert, and in the years that followed came John Williams, Christopher Parkening, Eliot Fisk and so many more amazing artists.
In 2004 we began developing a curriculum and teacher resource for classroom guitar. GuitarCurriculum.com launched online in October of 2008, and soon became the backbone of our educational services, enabling us to reach more students than we ever had before. This fall we are supporting 55 school programs locally, and many hundreds more around the world, serving thousands of students.
By 2005, Austin Classical Guitar had become the largest nonprofit classical guitar organization in the United States, and we’ve continued to grow by about 30% every year since! For me, it all began as a dream of a future where classical guitar could meaningfully impact the lives of diverse individuals in our communities, and guitarists could be paid fairly for delivering their vital and uplifting services. Twenty-five years later, together with our uniquely vibrant community, we pause to reflect on how much we have accomplished. But only for a moment – there’s so much more to do, and the dream is shining within us more brightly than ever.
Here’s to another twenty-five glorious years of sharing and celebrating humanity through music."
We never would have made it this far without the support of our sponsors and our community, and for that we thank you.
Jorge Caballero on Yamashita
With an impressive background in transcribing symphonies and orchestral arrangements into solo classical guitar pieces and a long list of awards from international competitions, Kazuhito Yamashita has been an inspiration since the beginning of his career.
Known by many as one of the most brilliant and influential musicians
of our time, he are honored to host him for the second time here in Austin. Yamashita’s concert, and the opening of our 25th season, is one week from Saturday.
Tickets and information are online here, or call 512-300-2247
One of our favorite guitarists of all time is Jorge Caballero. We knew Yamashita was a huge influence on him, and we asked him to share a few words with us.
This is what he had to say:
"It is difficult to describe the fascination and astonishment I felt the morning I heard Yamashita's Pictures at an Exhibition for the first time. My teacher pulled out from his vast collection of guitar records a black cassette case, opened it with the familiarity of constant use, and after rewinding it, we listened. A myriad of sounds unfamiliar to my ears ensued. "I know people who quit playing the guitar after hearing this," he said, between breaks and stops to fast forward through the tape. "And why not? This recording is like a crossroads."
The genesis of the guitar version of Pictures dates back to the end of the 1970s, when the now legendary Japanese guitarist Kazuhito Yamashita first devised, interpreted, and published it. Historically speaking, this arrangement is— along with Yamashita's subsequent performances of it, similar to the Pioneer anomaly in astrophysics: the paradox it created between the theoretically possible and the hypothetical forcibly exposed the limits of our knowledge.
In my twelve-year-old mind I could see this paradox, hanging on a delicate balance of simple definitions: "What is the guitar?" This question spun in my head as I heard my teacher's remarks on Yamashita's playing in the background. My own mind was busy. "Is it the instrument of Segovia, the one I more or less knew? Or, is it really something else? Can it be ultimately defined?" These questions took on the form of a persistent puzzle, one that my greatest imaginative effort could not resolve.
After the lesson was over, I asked my teacher if I could borrow the music, a spiral bound photocopy of forty-plus pages. Once I got home, I opened it to the first Promenade, guitar in hand, and began reading. Although even the opening phrase, its odd time signature and its fingerings seemed already illogical, I hoped that someday my curiosity would reward me the benefit of understanding it, and that is how I began learning Pictures, slowly, taking a page here and there and trying to play it, without responsibility beyond my self imposed obligation, but moreover, I sought to understand its meaning in order to quench a desire for knowledge, so as to resolve a riddle, to learn."
A World Class Introduction for our International Series
As soon as we heard Kazuhito was going to conclude his concert with one of the greatest musical works of all time, Bach’s Chaconne in d minor from his Second Violin Partita we knew we wanted to do something special. We have found something special indeed!
We are very excited to announce that special guest Jessica Mathaes, Concert Master of the Au
stin Symphony Orchestra, will be giving a brief talk and demonstration about the Chaconne beginning at 7pm before Kazuhito's concert which will begin at 8pm.
What is a Chaconne, you ask?
"A chaconne (/ʃəˈkɒn/; French: [ʃakɔn]; Spanish: chacona; Italian: ciaccona, pronounced [tʃakˈkoːna]) is a type of musical composition popular in the baroque era when it was much used as a vehicle for variation on a repeated short harmonic progression, often involving a fairly short repetitive bass-line (ground bass) which offered a compositional outline for variation, decoration, figuration and melodic invention. In this it closely resembles the passacaglia." Wikipedia
Not only is Jessica an award-winning violinist, she has traveled the
world to perform with multiple orchestras and served as a Musical Ambassador for the U.S. on a solo and masterclass tour through Singapore. She became the youngest and first female Concert Master of the Austin Symphony in 2005 and has maintained the title since then.
In the words of our Executive Director Matthew Hinsley, "If you have not seen Jessica perform before, you are in for an incredible treat. She’s a marvelous musician, and I cannot wait to hear everything she has to say about Bach’s seminal solo violin piece - one of the most influential of all time."
How Learning to Play an Instrument Can Improve Your Life
In the past month we've had the privilege of being featured in both a KUT Public Radio story as well as on the PBS NewsHour national broadcast, both highlighting our five year old program with the Gardner Betts Juvenile Justice System. The PBS piece, which can be viewed in the video below, followed one of our own instructors, Jeremy Osborne, along with three students involved in the program, Demetrius, Peter and Israel. The goal of the program is to transform students' lives by giving them the opportunity to focus and excel in learning to play Classical Guitar.
Not only do we believe this program helps develop skills that students can turn into a career if they choose, but that will help them in the long run to learn to cope with their behavioral issues and focus that energy into something positive- making beautiful music.
Nina Kraus, director of Northwestern University's Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory stated in an interview with TIME, which was published in an article called This Is How Music Can Change Your Brain, that “... it is only through the active generation and manipulation of sound that music can rewire the brain.”
“We don’t see these kinds of biological changes in people who are just listening to music, who are not playing an instrument,” said Kraus. “I like to give the analogy that you’re not going to become physically fit just by watching sports.” It’s important to engage with the sound in order to reap the benefits and see changes in the central nervous system.”
Scientific studies have shown how much classical music can impact activity in the brain and lead to a calmer temperament, but further studies have shown that actually engaging in the musical process and learning to play an instrument can refine an individual's attention to detail and ability to focus in other areas as well. Developing these auditory physiological functions leads to a higher potential for literacy which directly affects academic abilities and the potential to be more successful in the long run.
We partner with Gardner Betts to provide students there with an arts-enriched educational environment in which they can recognize their abilities and potential. In partnership with AISD we are able to allow students to earn Fine Arts credit toward graduation. As we engage students in the arts through classical guitar, we contribute to the development of self-esteem and to the improvement of attitudes toward school in general. The progress made has been recently highlighted in a letter we received from Kim Anderson, AISD Alternative Education Guidance Counselor:
"I have seen the positive effect the Austin Classical Guitar program has had on the incarcerated youth here at Gardner Betts Juvenile Justice Center. The performances in the courthouse for the CASA ceremonies, the more casual sessions at family visit potluck dinners, the formal appearances at the graduation ceremonies, and other impromptu performances have all been very well received by those in attendance. But more importantly, the way the kids carry themselves after a performance and the eagerness they approach practice sessions [with] have made it quite obvious to me that this is one of the more valuable programs the kids are a part of."
She also mentions the importance of the Austin Classical Guitar program in promoting the confidence of the kids through challenging them with learning a difficult skill and providing them with the means to do so; instruments, lessons, student-instructor relationships that motivate them to get better.
Although the focus of our partnership with Gardner Betts has been to influence the lives of the students, it has indirectly had a positive impact on others as well. Jim Gobin, Director of Residential Services recently wrote:
“The performances of the young men and women at the CASA courthouse ceremonies and in our in-house graduation ceremonies have been an inspiration to our staff and residents...Artistic expression isn’t commonly found inside correction facilities and we are proud that it is offered in ours and feel it makes a difference when combined with our developmental programming.”
We are so proud of our team, and of these kids who have worked so hard to try something new and had the courage to perform in public. It elates all of us here at ACG to see this positivity brought about by the implementation of our programs, and we look forward to developing it even further in the future.
We are profoundly grateful to our many supporters who make this project, and all of our work, possible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Rt0UvAOqa8
Brasil Duo Returns!
We are thrilled to welcome back the Brasil Duo to Austin on Saturday, August 1st, for the final concert of our 2015 Brasil! Summer Series. Since their last visit, this dynamic duo has done many incredible things, including perform with cello icon Yo Yo Ma!
Get tickets online here, or call 512-300-2247.
We are particularly excited to hear Joao Luiz’s arrangements of Rameau and Gismonti again.
The second half begins with a magnificent large work by Leo Brouwer that the duo performed in Havana, Cuba, with the composer present, on the same concert in which they premiered a new work with Yo Yo Ma and Carlos Prieto!
The Brasil Duo with cellists Carlos Prieto & Yo Yo Ma.
The duo’s August 1st program is:
Les Cyclopes by Jean Philippe Rameau
Prelude and Fugue by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Zita by Astor Piazzolla (watch this on video!)
A Fala da Paixao by Egberto Gismonti
Sete Aneis by Gismonti (video)
Intermission
Sonata de Los Viajeros by Leo Brouwer (video)
Bate-Coxa by Marco Pereira
Concert Details
Brasil Duo
Saturday, August 1st
Austin ISD Performing Arts Center
1500 Barbara Jordan Boulevard (78723)
6:30: Boteco Brazilian Food Truck
6:45: Gabriel Santiago (Eight-string Brazilian Jazz Guitar)
7:30: Brasil Duo
Tickets online here or 512-300-2247
Boteco will serve Yuca Fries with Chimmichurri Dipping Sauce, Ground Beef or Gourmet Cheese Pastels, Pão de Queijo, Brigadeiro, and Churros de Doce de Leite.
Our deepest thanks go to our sponsors Catherine and David Wildermuth, Joseph M. Bennett Architects and Oliver Custom Homes.
